Mr. Rongen appointed as CEO and member of the Board bringing 30 years of executive leadership experience and expertise across a number of therapeutic areas
Bolstered expertise on Board of Directors with addition of Dr. Rogers who brings significant leadership and expertise spanning both public and private sectors in health care and the biopharmaceutical industry
DELRAY BEACH, FL / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / Adolore Biotherapeutics, Inc. ("Adolore" or the "Company"), a biotechnology company focused on developing breakthrough opioid-free pain relieving (analgesic) treatments for chronic pain, today announced the appointments of Roelof Rongen, MSE, MBA as Chief Executive Officer and Director, and Mark C. Rogers, MD, MBA as a member of the Company's Board of Directors.
"We are delighted to welcome Roelof and Mark at this pivotal time in the evolution of Adolore," commented Roy C. Levitt, MD, Founder and Executive Chairman of Adolore Biotherapeutics. "The addition of these well-known and well-respected industry leaders represents clear acknowledgement of the solid foundation of our breakthrough platform technology leveraging our novel gene therapy approach for the treatment of chronic pain and other nervous system diseases and conditions. Roelof and Mark are distinguished trailblazers in the biopharmaceutical industry and bring business, operational and financial acumen, along with a wealth of business contacts, all of which we believe will be invaluable to Adolore as we drive the Company through its next stage of growth."
Mr. Rongen added, "The Adolore team has developed a cutting-edge approach to opioid-free pain relief and their data is incredibly compelling. I, along with the leadership team, are committed to advancing this innovative gene therapy toward anticipated IND filings and clinical studies. I am pleased to join the Company and look forward to building on the momentum generated thus far."
Dr. Rogers added, "I am very excited to be joining Adolore's Management team and Board, at what I believe is a very important transitional period for the Company. Adolore's gene therapy approach has received validation and recognition by the NIH and Adolore's osteoarthritis program is fully funded by the NIH's HEAL program to combat the opioid crisis. I look forward to working closely with Roy, Roelof and the rest of the senior management team to advance the Company's development programs and achieve its ambitious goals, thus creating life-changing products for patients with chronic pain."
Roelof Rongen, MSE, MBA
Mr. Rongen is a serial entrepreneur and R&D / Commercial Development leader with extensive experience across many therapeutic areas and functions. He founded and progressed Matinas BioPharma (omega-3 and lipid-crystal nano-particle drug delivery) into a public company (NYSE:MTNB); and he was integral to the development and commercialization of blockbuster products such as Humira® and Lovaza®.
Prior to founding Matinas BioPharma, Mr. Rongen was the architect behind Trygg Pharma which facilitated Norway's Aker Group's entry into the prescription omega-3 business. Before his work with Aker, he was VP for IP and Portfolio Management at Reliant Pharmaceuticals (acquired by GlaxoSmithKline) where he in-licensed Lovaza® and led development and pre-launch activities. Earlier in his career, Mr. Rongen was Global Product Director for Humira® and other Immunology Programs at BASF Pharma (acquired by Abbott/Abbvie). Mr. Rongen started his professional career as a management consultant at Arthur D. Little's Technology Innovation Management practice in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, followed by his work in New York City as biotech/pharmaceutical consultant at The Wilkerson Group (acquired by IBM).
Mr. Rongen holds a Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) in Molecular Sciences (with Biotechnology/Bio-Process Technology focus) graduate degree from Wageningen University in the Netherlands and an MBA from Kellogg GSB at Northwestern University.
Mark C. Rogers, MD, MBA
Dr. Rogers is a physician, serial entrepreneur, professor, and hospital administrator, who brings leadership and expertise in health care and the biopharmaceutical industry spanning both private and public sectors with significant board and operational experience. Most notably, Dr. Rogers was CEO of Duke Hospital and Health Network before joining Perkin Elmer as Chief Technology Officer (NYSE:PKI) where he was in charge of the company's human genome sequencing program, amongst other responsibilities. He then moved into medical venture capital becoming CEO of Paramount Capital.
Later, before founding Gibson Oncology, Dr. Rogers served as founder, Chairman, and CEO of numerous companies including Innovative Drug Delivery Systems, a pharmaceutical development company with three pain-related drugs which went public and was acquired for approximately $230 million. He was founder and Chairman of Aptamera, an oncologic pharmaceutical development company that was acquired by a London public company Antisoma. He was founder and Chairman of Cardiome, a NASDAQ listed cardiac arrhythmia company that reached an $800 million-dollar market capitalization while Dr. Rogers was Chair. He also was Executive Chair of PolaRX which developed Arsenic Trioxide as a cure for Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia and which, after FDA approval, was subsequently sold to a large pharmaceutical company for $100 million.
Dr. Rogers trained in four medical specialties (critical care, pediatrics, cardiology, and anesthesiology) and was a Professor and Chair at Johns Hopkins at age 37. The author of well over 100 papers and Editor of 12 books, he is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, is a former Fulbright scholar, and former Chair of the Reagan-Udall Foundation, the U.S. Congress public advisory group on the FDA.
Dr. Rogers earned his undergraduate degree at Columbia University, his Medical Doctorate from SUNY and his MBA from the Wharton School at Pennsylvania University.
About Adolore Biotherapeutics, Inc.
Adolore Biotherapeutics, Inc., is a biotechnology company focused on developing novel therapies for the treatment of chronic pain and other pain and nervous system conditions or disorders. Our best-in-class lead programs are long-acting locally acting gene-therapies that are opioid-free Disease Modifying Anti-Pain therapies (DMAPs) for the treatment of a variety of chronic pain indications.
The Company's two current CA8* gene therapy programs are in preclinical development for treatment of patients suffering from erythromelalgia, a life-long heritable chronic pain condition representing an orphan drug disease with no approved therapy, and chronic osteoarthritis knee pain, affecting a large number of patients that is often treated with opioids due to the lack of alternatives, thus contributing to the ongoing opioid crisis.
For more information, visit adolore.com.
Forward Looking Statements
To the extent this announcement contains information and statements that are not historical, they are considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. You can identify forward-looking statements by the use of the words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "project," "will," "should," "may," "plan," "intend," "assume" and other expressions which predict or indicate future events and trends and which do not relate to historical matters. You should not rely on forward-looking statements, because they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond the control of the Company. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those associated with drug development. These risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from the anticipated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE: Adolore Biotherapeutics, Inc.